Insta-Buddy Briefing

[lifeisfullofgooddives]

For me it depends on the dives we will be doing. If I am diving a reef in 30ft of water on a clear day...I don't put up much of a stink with an insta-buddy. I go over basic safety info and just make sure that there is a plan in place for what we want to do and who is going to lead.

Now if I am about to go dive the Duanne or S.Grove or any wreck....you better be able to convince me to dive with you. I would rather sit out a dive than go to any of these places with someone I am not comfortable with. In this case I would quiz my would be buddy on his/her history very much and make sure to go over safety and extensively go over our gear set-up.

Also I usually bring a camera with me when I go diving, but if I am on an advanced dive I would leave this on the boat if I have to go down with an insta-buddy. I just feel I need to be extra vigilant when diving with someone who I just met.

 

[DiverBeth]

I've had a number of insta buddies and always go through a check of experience, equipment, signals, and what to do if we get separated. So far it's all been a waste of time. In other words I've been lucky. I'm sure the time I don't go through taking a few minutes to get things straight between us will be the time it will be needed. So far none of my insta-buddies has objected to having a pre-dive check between us. If they did I would try to find another insta-buddy.

 

[deepblueme]

As an Inst 90% of my buddys were/are Insta-buddies, so I just assume/act like they don't know a thing and I treat them like I would a student on an O/W dive. After a dive or 2 I relax (alittle).

 

[RonFrank]

One thing I missed and have not seen on the thread is what to do if separated. This is generally covered by the DiveOp when boat diving, but for those that have not done much boat diving....

1) Drift Diving. If you are drift diving, the rule is you stay in sight of the DM leading the dive who generally either has a Marker at the surface, or will deploy one near the end of the dive. If you are drift diving, and are not within sight of the DM or leader, consider yourself lost!

2) General rule of thumb for buddy separation. If you separate, look for one minute, and then go to the surface. This can be problematic if you are on a deep wreck, so my general rule of thumb for deeper dives is.... DO NOT SEPARATE! Unfortunately with insta-buddies, that can be an issue.

Another thing I've been VERY successful doing is..... diving with SB folks on vacation!

I've buddied up with too many people to name both in Coz, and in FL. Post your plans a few weeks before you go diving, and you would be surprised to find how many people may end up diving with you! My experience with SB divers has been excellent. Experienced, good breathers, good skills, I can't really say enough about the good experiences I've had with them!

 

[Charlie99]

1) Drift Diving. If you are drift diving, the rule is you stay in sight of the DM leading the dive who generally either has a Marker at the surface, or will deploy one near the end of the dive. If you are drift diving, and are not within sight of the DM or leader, consider yourself lost!

When diving a group of 4 on one flag, my spiel is something along the lines of "The guy with the flag is never lost. Even if the other three of you are all together and he's by himself, you 3 are the ones that are lost."

When surface currents differ from bottom currents, the flag-puller will tend to go a different speed or direction than the others.

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GROUP DIVING WITH INSTA-BUDDY

There are a few things unique to DM-led dives that deserve specific discussion with an insta-buddy.

The level of buddy committment and buddy duties really needs to be discussed. The most common issue to come up is whether both buddies surface when the first one hits ascent pressure. Other alternative include a) solo ascent OK. b) solo ascent OK as long as buddy or DM can see them reach the surface and/or boat ladder, c) regroup buddies so people with about the same amount of air left go up together, d) loose buddy group where there really is no individual buddy pairing.

Both classic lost buddy contact procedure needs to be agreed upon, and also what is done for the case where both buddies are together but have lost contact with DM, and the case where 1 buddy is still with DM and the other buddy is solo. This usually involves making sure that your plans agree with the DMs.

Group diving opens up lots of new possibilities for miscommunication. Don't assume the DM is your buddy, even if he says he is, until you have confirmed what will happen if you go low on air before others in the group.

 

[grazie42]

I think the "social thing" is one of the most uderrated...just talking about past dives and divetrips will give you a good idea of the experience-level of your insta-buddy. The best thing about new divers is that they tend to tell you that they are and then you can go from there to plan a dive that you´re both comfortable with. That first talk also involves deciding the level of comittment that we´ll have during the dive.

Dive-planning:
-Dive time, how long do you want to stay under?
-Profile, where do you want to spend most of your time and what do you want to see?
-What kind of ascent would you like to do?

The answers to those questions and the size of their tank tells me whether my insta-buddy knows how to plan a dive and whether I´m comfortable with the plan. I´ll suggest changes until I´m comfortable with the plan. I also stress that any changes to the plan need to be communicated and agreed to before they occur.

I´ll tell my insta-buddy that I like to go slow and show them the sign for "slow-down". Depending on my evaluation of their skill-level and experience we´ll agree to "waypoints" where we communicate, things like ½time, ½pressure, depthchanges, start of ascent etc

I have to say that I´ve had very few propblems with insta-buddies and I like to dive with strangers every once in a while to get a different perspective on things...

 

[grazie42]

double post...

 

[grazie42]

triple post...

 

[Scubaholic]

Before you "Insta-Buddy" learn from my mistake(s)!

http://scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=189273

 

[RonFrank]

Before you "Insta-Buddy" learn from my mistake(s)!

I liked the story, but I think you had an unusually bad experience. I've had many an insta-buddy, mostly boat diving. My biggest complaint was that some blew through air. Other than that most have been good, and some even great people to dive with.

I think the lack of prior diving experience discussion, and the attitude should have tipped you off immediately. Most divers I've met love to discuss their travel, and one can quickly tell if they are at least somewhat experienced, or totally new.

Nothing wrong with totally new, but that certainly should limit the diving to Beginner status. Fortunately there is nothing I find wrong with easy dives. I'm very happy on a 30~40 reef!